How it all began

Since now we're just passing the time until we get more news, I thought now would be a good time to tell the story of how our adoption journey began. I don't exactly remember who came up with the idea of adoption and when, but I do remember someone throwing the idea out there when we were sitting in our hotel in London on the way to Kenya about a year and a half ago. At that point, and for a while after, we were thinking of adopting from China. The idea thrilled me since I knew for sure I would have a sister, though the boys didn't exactly warm up to the idea until a few months later. We started the process in June of 2005. We were then right in the middle of moving to Connecticut, and it was a very hectic time- my dad was working in Norway since he'd recently gotten a job working for a Norwegian company (long story short, his old company got bought and he had to look for a new job. He had a few months of vacation time before he started his new job, which is why we could pull off travelling to Kenya for two weeks. My dad was required to work in the Oslo office for a few months before working in New York, so my mom was left to handle us kids and make many, many moving arrangements, including finding a house.)

However, once we were in and settled in our new home and Connecticut, my parents could jump back into the process. We were thinking China until early spring as I remember it, when we had to make the decision to stick with China and wait a long time for an older baby, or switch to Ethiopia where the wait was shorter and the babies were younger. Another plus to the switch was that we would get to travel to Ethiopia, and my family had fallen in love with Africa since the second we set foot in Nairobi. The downside for me was that there was a 50-50 chance that the baby could be a boy or a girl, though my brothers definetely considered this another plus.

We had our home study in mid-May and our dossier was completed and sent July 17. Now all we have to do is endure the next six months or so of waiting, but we have plenty to do in the meantime. My parents are working on getting the house ready, the boys have school, sports and friends, and I myself have quite a bit on my plate: lots of schoolwork, tennis lessons, the track team, band, three clubs (one of which being the International Club, in which I am an office member. This year I plan to do a presentation on Ethiopia and hold drives to collect supplies for the children in Horizon House, an orphanage in Ethiopia where our baby is/will be.) Of course there is also seeing friends and baby-sitting. I tell myself we're almost there and with plenty to do in the meantime, the wait will go by in a flash.